Kali Patterson is a Senior Communication Studies and Global Studies double major.
How did you find Communication Studies?
I initially came to the University of Nebraska - Lincoln as a student majoring in Computer Science. I was doing well in my classes, but couldn't shake the feeling that professional work within the technical field of Computer Science alone didn't satisfy my interest in how such technologies recorded, affected, and integrated human communication and interaction. Searching for a way to apply my interest in technology led me to find a passion in the work regarding both human relationships/communication and this "message making" process, so to say. My switch from Computer Science to eventually Communication Studies (and later Global Studies) allowed me the chance to really give myself the space to practice the work I enjoyed before and during university (technical work, working with computers and their structure, etc.) while also feeling flexible enough to apply concepts about the real world to my life, and the work I would look forward to doing later on.
What do you like most about being a Communication Studies major?
I love that this discipline is flexible, that it is applicable; that it not only teaches me about how interact with those around me, but also this study is one of self-awareness and even public service in its many forms of sense-making and message "creating." I adore the sub-fields within the practice, and how I've really been able to diversify my own understanding of not only the Social Science, but also the Humanities. Likewise, I feel that our faculty feels similarly, and shares a want to extend these philosophies to their students as well as their own individual/group work. I feel like what I am learning has real-world value, and I feel that it is also very timely.
What is your favorite class?
Impossible question! I enjoyed many courses throughout my career at UNL. COMM 250 (Rhetoric of Digital Media & Civic Life) was so integral in my understanding of what it meant to be civically engaged - or even service-oriented - likewise, this course gave me the chance to study how mediated technologies come into play within the communicative stage(s). Interpersonal Communication Theory (COMM 470), gave me such a fantastic taste of how theory and the sciences really play into this field. It also gave me a wonderful time in thinking critically on my own relationships with others and myself - and how the execution of what makes those relationships form is something rather unique, idiosyncratic, and malleable. Lastly - Intergroup Communication (COMM 465) - was a wonderful course wherein it regarded so much of what I'd learned in my Global Studies major, but it put - again - theory and project into action with what I had been learning. Realizing that there exist platforms and systems to test, to question - and to find answers to such questions - to what I consider to be a study in the human condition was just so exciting. All in all - I have yet to take a Communication Studies course which did not impact me in a very personal and meaningful way each and every day I went to class.
What are some of the cool experiences you have had as a student at UNL?
So many! I had the privilege of interning at PEN International in Auckland, New Zealand (a not-for-profit organization which specializes in the rights and freedoms of writers all over the world, and likewise provides avenues for aspiring authors/publishers to complete their work at the national level). I worked directly with our coordinator of the program "Writers in Prison," which spreads awareness - and sometimes - directly communicated with journalists, authors, etc. who have been imprisoned for their expressed work. I likewise worked to plan and implement a National Writers Forum - and a created a website to boot - for PEN International. Since coming back home, I have interned locally at Humanities Nebraska working alongside their Communications Manager. Recently we migrated all of our web content to a new platform, and are working on an app for a literary program - and in these ways I use just as much of what I've learned in Communication Studies for research into the analytics of our audience, and how they best construct meaning for our events/grants/programs/etc. as I use my skills in computer software design and programming. This internship has allowed me to craft my writing skills in creating documents for press release, and social media content which engages our followers. Throughout my undergraduate career, I have volunteered with the Sheldon Museum of Art as a student docent - giving peer-guided tours of the museum's permanent collection and other exhibits I have been active with UNL Sustain and their Go Green for Big Red days during the football season I have spent summers at the University of California - Berkeley being an orientation leader for Youth for Understanding's (YFU's) high school students from all over North America in setting off for a foreign exchange/study abroad to Japan Similarly, I have been a TA for COMM 211 in the fantastic talks/presentations with Ataturk University, Yeditepe University (Ankara & Istanbul, Turkey) & UNL I have tutored for four years now for the William H. Thompson Scholars on campus, and have had the greatest privilege of working one-to-one with students as a learning consultant for both the Office of Academic Success and Intercultural Services (OASIS), and the Office of First-Year Experience and Transition Programs (FYETP) I have the wonderful opportunity of being a part of the Undergraduate (Advising) Committee for the department of Communication Studies I also put my presentation skills to the test by working as a leasing agent for Brookside Apartments in the Fallbrook area. *inhales* And! I am recently having the absolute, most wonderful experience with the First Husker program and its staff during my research on First-Generation college students for my Communication Studies capstone projects.
What are your post-graduation plans?
Currently, I am officially doing the "job hunt," and my plans post-graduation are to hopefully continue working with non-profit organizations, to continue working alongside students in both endeavoring to study abroad (or in advising concerns), and to find more avenues with which I can apply my passion for technology and computers to human-purpose, advantage, and information-seeking activities. More than anything, I am excited to see where else I will go, and can't imagine staying away from the academic sphere for too long. :)
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